The Promise He Kept From Me

My phone was in my coat pocket.

Her full name was Diane Calloway.

She wasn’t hard to find.

A Facebook profile, mostly private.

A LinkedIn page that listed her as a dental hygienist at a practice twenty minutes from the hospital.

A neighborhood forum post from two years ago asking if anyone had recommendations for a reliable plumber.

An ordinary life.

A real person.

I sat in that small waiting room for another half hour, just looking at what little I could see of her profile.

One public photo: Diane at what looked like a birthday party, laughing at something off-camera.

She had dark hair and an open, unguarded smile.

In the background, slightly out of focus, a small boy in a paper crown.

I closed the app and put my phone away.

Outside, the afternoon had turned grey.

I drove home slowly, both hands on the wheel, and when I got inside I sat at the kitchen table without taking off my coat.

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